In a radio interview last Thursday, Malcolm Turnbull said the courts of justice were ‘not immune from public criticism’.
Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Labor is pursuing Malcolm Turnbull over comments he made last week endorsing criticism of the Victorian judiciary by three of his ministers – interventions which have now exposed them to contempt charges.

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, says the day before last Friday’s court hearing, the prime minister went on radio station 3AW and “backed in his ministers’ comments, despite knowing this matter was before the court the following day”.

In a radio interview last Thursday, Turnbull said the courts of justice “are not immune from public criticism”.

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“The courts cannot be and are not immune from criticism which may extend to robust observations of a particular decision or penalty,” the prime minister said.

“Those three ministers, yes they are ministers in my government, they are members of parliament but they are also citizens of Victoria and residents of Victoria and you know, as your listeners do, that there is real concern about law and order and the failure of the state government and the system in Victoria to protect people”.

Turnbull went on to note that “in a free society a person is entitled to criticise the conduct of the courts or of a judge”.

The three retracted some remarks but did not apologise for their criticisms.

On Sunday, the ministers were not commenting ahead of the court’s ultimate deliberations.

If the three go on to be charged with contempt, it could imperil the government, given the Coalition holds government by a one seat majority.

Dreyfus notes the consequences of the court proceedings are “potentially serious” and says it is incumbent on the prime minister to explain why he thought it was a good idea to validate the criticisms.

But Senate crossbencher Derryn Hinch took to social media on Sunday to endorse the critique by the ministers.

Derryn Hinch (@HumanHeadline)

Insiders legal ‘experts’ on ministers and contempt of court forget you cannot influence a judge. Pollies’ comments were legit.

Senior government figures were much more circumspect. The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, told the ABC he did not intend to comment while the court was “in deliberation”.

“I don’t know what the technical term is for it, I’m an accountant, but, um, look, I just want to see this thing be dealt with in the proper manner, and I – you know, it’s fair warning, if the court says that there’s an issue here then I’m going to shut up”.

Joyce pointed out that holding his tongue was “unusual for me.”

The energy and environment minister Josh Frydenberg said he thought “less is more at this particular time”.